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(No Modei.) W1C. B'AIRD.

LAMP.

No. 355,908. Patented Jan. 11,1887,

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UN TED STATES ATENT Orrrcn.

\VILLIAM O. BAIRD, OF SCARBOROUGH, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES IV. \VILLIAMS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

LAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 355,908, dated January 11, 1887.

Application filed August 4, 1886. Serial No. 210,033. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM G. BAIRD, of Scarborough, VVestchester county,State of New York, and a citizen of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lamps, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to Argand lamps; and it consists in the improvement herein described and claimed.

The general construction of the Argand lamp to. which my improvement is applied does not differ materially from that in common use, as will be seen by the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in which' Figure 1 is a vertical central section, and Fig. 2 a plan view, of a lamp embodying my improvement.

A is the body or fount; B, the wick-tube, open at the top and bottom, secured to the bottom of the body A, and extending upward above the top of the same.

O is the cylindrical wick on-wick-tube.

' b is the wickshifter, consisting of a band or ring surrounding the lower end of the wick, fitting snugly to it, and made to take hold of it by means of spurs or otherwise, so that when the ring is raised or lowered it will carry the wick with it.

Eis a bar or rod that is connected to the ring I) by an arm, b. The bar extends upward above the top of the body A, through a radial slot or opening, 6, in the said top. This slot e extends from the interior of the neck of the lamp outward far enough to contain the said bar and permit it to move up and down freely in it, the slot also permitting the arm 12 to pass through it, so that the wickshifter, with the arm I) and bar E, may be introducedinto and removed from the lamp at pleasure. By taking hold with the hand of the upper end of the bar E and lifting it up or pressing it downward,the wick will be raised or lowered to adjust it for burning, or removed from the lamp.

This lamp, so far as I have now describedit, is not new; but in the movement of the wickshifter b by means of the bar E, as described,

a difficulty is experienced which it is the purpose of my improvement to remedy.

It will be observed that the bar E is held and supported in the slot 6 only on its sides, and possibly on its outer edge, it being left free to move toward the wick-tube B, and this is necessarily so, as the slot 6 must be unobstructed between the said bar and tube to p'ermit the arm b to pass through it. YVhen the top end of E is pushed over toward B, (and this is verylikely to occur whenever the bar is pulled upward or pressed downward,) the band b is tilted on the wick-tube,and thereby made to bind thereon, and thus the easy and accurate adjustment of the wick is interfered with. To obviate this difficulty I provide ways for guiding the bar E that insure the vertical movement of the bar parallel to the tube B. To this end I secure in the radial slot'etwo guide-plates, e, between which the bar runs. These plates extend above (and preferably also below) the top of the fount A sufficiently to furnish a suitable support to the said bar. In

the inner faces of these plates are made vertiand freely thereon,while the slot 6 is left unobstructed, to permit the arm Z9 to pass through it in putting in and taking out the wick and wick-shifter.

e is a rack formed on the bar E, and e is a toothed pinion, the shaft of which is journaled in the plates 0, thepinion meshing with the rack. On said shaft is a milled head,'e for convenient rotation of the pinion. When this rack and pinion are employed to raise and lower the bar E,the action of the pinion on the rack tends to thrust the bar away from the pinion and out of parallel to the tube B, and thus cause the band I) to bind on the tube. The described ways and ribs hold the bar against this thrust. The said guideways and ribs are preferably triangular in form,as shown in the drawings; but they may be of any other suitable form. By their means the movement of the said bar E and the ring Z) accurately parallel to the tubeB is insured, and the bind; ingof said ring onthe tubeis prevented,while, as before stated, the slot 0 is left unobstructed, to permit the arm b to pass through it in putting in and taking out the Wick.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination, in an Argand lamp, the fount provided with a slot, 0, the guide-plates e,secured on the top of the fount, one on each side of said slot, and provided with a groove, 6 the wick-tube B, the Wick-shifter b on said tube and fitted to sustain and hold the wicl; O, the bar E, connected by an arm, I), to tlie wickshifter and extending upward above the top of the fount between the plates 0, and provided With arib, e fitted to slide in said groove, whereby said bar and wiclvshii'ter in their vertical movement are held parallel to the tube B,

while the slot is unobstructed, to permit the wickshii'ter, arm, and-bar to be introduced into and removed from thelamp, all as and for the purpose described. r

2. The combination, in an Argand lamp, with the fount A, provided with the slot 6, the

guide-plates e, secured on the top of the fount,

'to raise and lower the said bar and Wickshiiter, all as and for the purpose described.

XVILLIAM G. BAIRD. Witnesses:

A. S. FITCH, A. G. N. VERMILYA. 

